Based on Lewis' best-seller The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine about the housing and credit bubble of the 2000s, the film will be produced by Paramount and Brad Pitt's Plan B. Pitt previously starred in and produced Lewis' Moneyball, which earned an Academy Award-nomination for Best Picture.

Here's what writer-director Adam McKay had to say in a brief statement about the project.

"Michael Lewis has the amazing ability to take complex formulas and concepts and turn them into page turners. Plan B and I connected over that breathless quality the book has. Very excited to jump into this."

Adam Goodman, Paramount Film Group President, had this to say in his statement.

"I am so excited as this project marks my third collaboration with Adam McKay - a tremendously talented filmmaker and one of my favorite storytellers."

Brad Pitt's production company Plan B also released the following statement.

"There are those rare literary treasures - as with The Big Short - that park in the harbor and you just wait, with hope. Adam McKay is a singular voice and talent and a ferocious mind - the vector of Adam and this book is what a producer dreams of."

McKay most recently co-wrote, produced and directed the sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues for Paramount Pictures. The hit film has grossed over $170 million globally. He is repped by WME and Mosaic.